Descendants: Halloween Screams
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: After hearing the local legend about the Pumpkin King, Mal, Ben, Evie, Jay and Carlos decide to discover if the legend is real. But they might get more than they bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

In the United States of Auradon was Auradon Prep, a school where the children of famous kings, queens, heroes and sidekicks of this fantastic world attend.

And today, the student body was getting their school decorated for Halloween.

The just-crowned King Ben, son of the Beast and Belle, as well as his fellow students were doing the very best they can to get this school prepared for the big Halloween dance. He looked around for a certain group of students.

"Has anyone seen Mal and the others?" Ben asked.

"Last time I saw them, they were at the tourney field." Doug, the bespectacled son of Dopey answered.

Curious, Ben decided to go find them.

Out on the tourney field, sitting on the bleachers was a slender girl with purple hair and green eyes that complimented her purple and magenta leather jacket and black jeans.

Her name was Mal, daughter of the infamously evil Maleficent.

Sitting next to Mal was an equally beautiful girl with cascading black hair with blue highlights. A small gold tiara perched perfectly atop her head. This was Evie, daughter of the vain, bearer of poison apples Evil Queen.

A freckled boy with black and white hair with matching wardrobe sat beside the girls, he was typing away on a laptop while a small rusty colored dog named Dude sat loyally by his side. He was none other than Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil.

The three friends were watching Jay, son of Jafar practicing tourney with the rest of the team.

"Shouldn't you be out there?" Mal asked Carlos.

Carlos shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm still recovering from the last practice with Jay and I've got the bruises to prove it."

Jay slammed and dodged and slapped his way all over the field. The kid was a natural born athlete, it was like he was born to play sports.

Once practice was done, Jay went to join his friends. He removed his helmet, revealing his handsome features, long black hair and a great tan. His skill and brawn were as silvery as his eyes.

The four of them were both famous and infamous here at Auradon. Being the children of evil villains, they were born and raised on the dismal Isle of the Lost, where all manner of villains were banished for their heinous crimes.

But thanks to Ben, the four offspring saw the light and chose to be good and not like their parents.

"Hey! There you guys are!"

The gang saw Ben running up to them. "I've been looking for you guys. Aren't you going to help with the Halloween dance?"

Ben saw the look of mild alarm on their faces. They shared this look amongst each other.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ben.

"Well..." Mal started. "it's just that...Halloween used to be a very...villainous time of year for us. Back on the island, our parents would go buck wild on Halloween."

"Mom would make her "homemade" candy apples." Evie said with a shiver.

"My mom would tell me scary stories about how dogs would tear me to shreds if I didn't do what she said..." Carlos grimaced. Dude whimpered.

"And there was stealing candy from children, toilet paper the houses, tormenting the neighbors..." Jay counted.

"I don't think we've ever had a normal Halloween." Mal concluded. "So, we're a bit iffy about this holiday."

Ben just chuckled. "Guys, don't you see? Now that you're in Auradon, you guys can have a normal Halloween."

The kids still looked uncertain.

"Come on, I promise this'll be the best Halloween you guys ever had." Ben assured them.

Mal sighed. "Alright, guys. Let's give it a shot."

With a shrug and a sigh, the gang got up and decided to give this new Halloween a whirl.

Once they stepped into the school and entered the gymnasium, orange and black streamers were hung. Autumn center pieces were placed around. Pumpkins were being carved and party events were getting planned.

"Huh. Maybe this Halloween thing won't be so bad." Jay said.

"Oh! It certainly won't!" chirped Fairy Godmother, headmistress of Auradon Prep. She glided into the room with great enthusiasm. "We'll be having candy, games, bobbing for apples, non-poisonous of course. And then we'll have the big costume contest!"

"What are you guys going to dress up as?" Lonnie, the daughter of Mulan asked.

"Uh, we don't really do costumes." Mal said.

"Yeah, usually people are scared of us every day of the year." Carlos mentioned.

"You know what would be even scarier?" a voice said. Everyone saw Prince Chad Charming, Cinderella's son, walk in. "You could always dress up as your parents. After all, nothing is more terrifying than a villain. You'd be the spitting image of the family image."

The villain kids glowered at the prince's smug suggestion.

"Sorry, Chad. But that would be typecasting." Fairy Godmother replied.

Chad frowned.

Ben turned to the four kids. "Listen, you guys can dress up as anything you want. Not what others want."

"Anyway, is the band doing alright?" Fairy Godmother asked the school band.

"Ready when you are!" Doug said with his trumpet at the ready. "One, two, three four!"

The band began playing a catchy little tune. It was catchy, yet had a hint of spooky. It was the perfect Halloween melody. Even the villain kids were enjoying it.

"What song is this?" Mal asked as she swayed to the music.

"This is Halloween." Ben answered, smiling. "It's a song that's been around for a long time and it never gets old this time of year."

"There's even a legend about this song..." Lonnie said ominously.

The band suddenly stopped playing. Every student stopped decorating and planning and looked at Lonnie in shock, as if she was about to speak the unspoken.

Mal looked around. "Did we say something to offend you guys?"

"No, my dear." Fairy Godmother said. "But quite frankly, the legend Lonnie speaks of is something that no one should ever discuss."

"Okay, why?" Jay asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yeah," Lonnie said. "It's not like, gonna trigger a bomb that'll blow up the school or something."

After a brief pause, Fairy Godmother gave in. "Very well," she sighed. "You may tell them."

Lonnie nodded and the storytelling began. "You see, there's a very peculiar legend about Halloween here is Auradon. In fact, if the legend was true, we probably wouldn't even celebrate Halloween in the first place!"

Now the villain kids were really curious.

"They say that deep in a thicket of woods called the Hinterlands, there are doorways to the holiday worlds."

"The holiday worlds?" Mal asked.

"That's right, they say holiday worlds are where holidays come from. And every world has a leader. With Easter, it was the Easter Bunny. With Christmas, it was Santa Claus..."

Lonnie's expression went cold as stone. "And for Halloween...it was Jack Skellington."

Most of the students screamed and cowered at the mention of this name. Carlos was so startled by their screaming, he jumped into Jay's arms. "Jack Skellington?!" he exclaimed in confusion.

"What kind of name is that?!" Jay said.

"The name you give to the ruler of Halloween, where he's known far and wide as the Pumpkin King!"

"A king?" Evie said.

"That's right. And the legend says that Jack tried to take over Christmas once he discovered the Christmas world! He kidnapped Santa Claus and delivered demonic presents to children and adults alike in a coffin like sleigh driven by skeleton reindeer! He delivered baby dolls possessed by demons, man-eating plants disguised as wreaths, and vampire teddy bears with razor sharp teeth that would scare and attack children!"

Everyone's mouths just dropped to the floor, even Mal's!

"But once the humans caught up to Jack, they retaliated with great and brutal force! They shot him down from the sky and he was never seen nor heard from ever again."

The room was at a dead silence. They were too shocked for words.

Lonnie caught herself. "But it's just a legend, that doesn't mean it's true."

"She's right, everyone!" Fairy Godmother said. "There's no such thing as a Jack Skellington!"

The students were still scared and silent.

"Yeah, Lonnie is right." Mal finally said. "I mean, think about it. Someone who would do something that evil would be booted to the Isle of the Lost just like our parents, right? And we've never seen or heard of this guy!"

"Good point." said Jay. "None of us have heard of him. And we know the island like the back of our hands."

"You heard the man!" Fairy Godmother announced for her students. "There is no Jack Skellington. Now, we must get everything ready for Halloween!"

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief and went back to work, everyone except Ben. He appeared deep in thought.

"You okay, Ben?" asked Mal.

Ben blinked. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure."

Mal could tell that Ben was curious about this Jack Skellington. And so was she. How come she and the rest of the villains kids haven't heard of him?

Perhaps there was more to this legend than they think...

Ben suddenly ran off.

"Ben? Where are you going?!" asked Mal.

"I have to talk to my folks!" Ben said as he kept running.


	2. Chapter 2

In a dark and gloomy looking town was a world unlike anything in Auradon. In fact, it looked like it came straight out of a nightmare! Macabre, monstrous looking houses and buildings stood tall in this spooky town.

But in the highest room of the tallest house was a girl. Her face was white as bone, that's because she was made of bone!

She was a skeleton. And a very peculiar one at that. For starters, she had a full head of long red crimson hair with bangs and a black bow tied in the back. She wore a long sleeve grey dress with a black spider web pattern and had long black boots.

Her name was Julie, daughter of Jack Skellington. She carefully put on her red lipstick that perfectly matched her hair and it made her white skull glow.

After putting the finishing touch on her makeup, she gazed out her bedroom window. Seeing the dull, grey clouds roll by and the bleakly boring town she's always lived in, the skeleton girl felt sad.

"Julie?" Jack Skellington came into his daughter's room, wearing his classic black and white pinstripe suit and bat bowtie. "Are you alright, dear? We were about to go over the plans for Halloween! It's just around the corner!"

"I know," Julie sighed, brushing her bangs to the side.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Jack asked, concerned about his daughter's non-joyful behavior.

His daughter appeared hesitant. "Well, do you ever get the feeling that...something's missing in your life?"

"Missing?" Jack said.

"Don't get me wrong, Dad. I love throwing the most terrifying Halloween we can scare up, but I just can't shake the feeling that something's missing. Something new!"

Jack furrowed his eye sockets and crossed his arms. His daughter was going through the same phase he did. "Julie, I thought we talked about this..."

"I know!" Julie threw her hands in the air and flopped on her black coffin canopy bed. "But I just feel trapped here. I mean, being in this town my whole life? I want to see what's out there, meet new people and try different things."

Jack stared.

"Besides," Julie continued. "you always tell me that one day you'll be gone and I'm next in line as the Pumpkin Kin- I mean, Queen. I'm never going to take your place if we're doomed to repeat the same old thing every year! We need new discoveries to inspire new scares! New ways to terrify future generations to come!"

Jack's eyeholes widened. "Well, when you put it that way, you're right."

Julie turned to her father. "I am?"

The Pumpkin King smiled. "You are. You make an excellent point, dear. We need new experiences and discoveries that can inspire us, so I have an idea. Why don't we pay a visit to a place called Auradon?"

"Auradon?" Julie repeated.

"Yes, it's a place with humans."

"HUMANS?!" Julie shouted, jumping off her bed and in front of her father. "Real humans?!"

"Now, not so fast!"

Jack and Julie looked to see Jack's living ragdoll wife, Sally Skellington rush in. "You can't just go to Auradon! Not after what you've done, Jack." She gave her husband a cold, stern look.

"Oh, Sally. I never meant to do any harm." Jack said innocently. "I just didn't get that Christmas thing right."

"Christmas or not, Julie can't just go to the human world without any knowledge of it." Sally said.

"But how will I know?" Julie asked, sulking. She was so looking forward to meeting humans.

"Maybe you can start with this." Sally walked up to a tall, dusty bookcase and pulled out the book she needed, in fact..." Sally pulled out several books. "Here, read these and then you can visit humans." She handed them all to Julie.

"Um, maybe just one would be enough, dear." Jack told Julie. "Come along, Sally. We still have work to do." He and Sally walked downstairs.

Grunting, Julie heaved the pile of books on her bed. She had to pick the right one, but then again, they all probably had the same information in them. Besides, how hard can humans be?

"Let's see...how about...this one!" Julie picked the book that should work just fine. It was titled:

 _'Human Socializing for Spooks.'_

But Julie grabbed two more books just in case.

* * *

Back at Auradon, the villains kids were in the science lab where Carlos was assembling an animatronic skeleton for the school's haunted house while Evie was mixing a strange concoction in a bowl.

"This will be the crown jewel of the haunted house!" Carlos bragged as he put on the final touches.

Ben, Audrey and Chad entered the lab. "How's it coming guys?" Ben asked.

"So far, so...good!" Carlos grinned and activated the remote control. The skeleton started to twitch, then it moved in little jerks as it quickly became fully functional! Dude barked with satisfaction.

"This'll be the best Halloween ever!" Evie held up a bowl of fake blood in Ben's face. "With this stuff poured all over our skeleton, it's gonna make the ultimate Halloween masterpiece!"

Ben chuckled out of courtesy, but Audrey and Chad couldn't help but cringe in disgust.

"Uh, what exactly is this suppose to be?" Audrey gestured to the skeleton.

"Well, we thought we could build our own Jack Skellington for Halloween." Mal said.

"Yeah, it's sure to give everyone a grade A scare." Jay mentioned.

Chad and Audrey appeared hesitant. "I don't think having this...stuff is necessary for the school." Chad said numbly.

"And it may not be a good idea using 'you-know-who' as inspiration." Audrey said, not wanting to mention the Pumpkin King's name.

"Oh, come on! What's the point of Halloween without something scary?" Mal said.

Audrey and Chad had a look of disagreement. "Well, I guess you have to amuse yourselves somehow." Chad said. He and Audrey left the lab.

Evie shook her head. "I don't know what I ever saw in him."

"That's because you were blinded by his princely prince-ness." Jay said.

"Prince-ness?" Ben questioned.

"You know what I mean."

"I'd love see the real Jack Skellington put a scare into him." Carlos said.

"Now that you mention it, there's something I want to talk to you guys about." Ben said. "I think there really is a Jack Skellington." He reached into his jacket and pulled out an aged piece of paper. "Look what I found."

Ben unfolded the paper and it appeared to be a map of Auradon. "According to the legend, the entrance ways to the holiday worlds are located in a dark forest called the Hinterlands." Ben pointed to a patch of trees located on the farthest, and what looked to be the most remote part of Auradon. "If such a forest exists, then Halloween Town must be real as well as it's leader!"

"So, let me get this straight, you want to go to this Halloween world and see Jack Skellington for yourself?" Mal asked.

"And you're dragging us along for the ride?" Jay added, arms crossed.

"I'm not dragging you guys into anything!" Ben insisted. "Aren't you just a little curious about Jack Skellington? I'm sure he didn't mean any harm back then! What if he just made a mistake?"

The villain kids shared doubtful looks. "How do you know that?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, delivering killer Christmas presents sounds pretty evil to me." Evie pointed out.

"True, but my dad personally made sure every evil villain, sidekick and accomplice was sent to the Isle of the Lost, and you guys have never seen this guy, have you? So what if he's just misunderstood?"

The kids didn't argue with that. "I'm with Ben on this one." Mal said. "I'm pretty curious myself."

Jay shrugged. "Why not?"

"I'm in." Evie said.

Carlos sighed. "I guess I'm in too."

"Great! First, we'll need to get to Halloween Town!" Ben looked at Mal. "Think you know a spell to get there?"

"Well, I'm not sure, I can't too big stuff like my mom. But I think I can get us to these Hinterlands or whatever they're called." Mal took out her mother's spell book and searched for the right spell. "Okay, here goes."

Mal concentrated very hard. She closed her eyes and held her arms up, green smoke billowed around them. The smog circled rapidly around them and engulfed them completely.

With a blinding flash of light, the students were gone.

* * *

The dizzying smog finally began to clear.

Mal, Ben, Evie, Jay, Carlos and even Dude were standing in front of the entrance of a dark, shadowy forest.

"Whoa! Mal! You did it! We're at the Hinterlands!" Ben said.

But Mal was more stunned than proud. "Wow...I really did it."

"So, how do we find the Halloween world in these woods?" Jay asked.

Just then, Dude barked. He kept barking as he ran into the forest.

"Dude! Stop! Heel!" Carlos called, following the little dog into the Hinterlands.

"Carlos! Wait up!" Ben went after him, soon enough, the rest of the kids followed Ben as well.

Dude was still running, but Carlos and the others were just as fast. It seemed that Dude wanted them to follow him. They soon came to a clearing.

At last, Dude stopped in front of one of the trees.

"Dude! What has gotten into...you?" Carlos stared. His friends stared as well.

In the clearing were enormous trees with doorways carved into their trunks. One doorway was carved like an Easter egg decorated with stripes and flowers. Another was carved like a great big heart. Another was carved as a four leaf clover. There was also one carved as an ornamented Christmas tree.

But the doorway the young ones gazed upon was the one shaped like a scary grinning jack-o-lantern.

"Is that what I think it is?" Evie asked.

"I think it is." Mal said.

"Uh, after you, your Majesty." Carlos stepped aside and gestured to the tree.

Ben did not hesitate. He opened the door and all he saw was darkness. There was only silence.

For a moment.

A cool gust of wind, like a giant wispy hand, wrapped itself around Ben and drew him inside, he screamed in terror as he was being pulled in.

"BEN!" Mal grabbed Ben's hands, but she was being pulled in too! Evie grabbed Mal, Jay grabbed Evie, Carlos grabbed Jay, even Dude grabbed Carlos by his pant leg with his teeth.

But even all of them combined wasn't enough. They were sucked inside, their screams were heard, but no one heard.

The door clanged shut.


	3. Chapter 3

Mal was the first to stir. She felt herself lying on solid ground. Her eyes opened. The first thing she saw was a night sky with a gleaming orange moon.

"What?! Where are we?!" Mal got up. She looked and her friends were awakening.

Evie looked around. "Are we...back where we started?"

Everyone else looked and sure enough, they seemed to be back in the Hinterlands where they started.

Jay stood. "Don't tell me this is it."

Carlos checked on Dude before he did anything else. "Dude, are you alright?"

The unharmed dog gave Carlos a little lick of appreciation.

Ben stood and observed his surroundings. "I say we investigate before we jump to conclusions." The young king walked forward, his friends had no choice but to follow.

As they walked, they noticed that the forest they were in now was anything but familiar. Because once they exited the forest, they came across a graveyard.

"Oh, a graveyard." Carlos gulped. "How quaint..."

Jay looked off in the distance. "Not to mention the creepy little ghost town over there."

Mal was blown away. Never has she seen a place so macabre, so dreary, so somber...

"So...where is Jack Skellington?" Evie asked.

"We could ask that girl over there." Jay said.

The villain kids looked over and sitting on a tombstone was a girl with long red hair.

Ben was the first to approach her. "Excuse me,"

"Ben, wait!" Mal said as she and the others followed him.

The girl's head perked up. She slowly turned to face them,

"AAAAAAAH!" Carlos screamed and jumped into Jay's arms. Evie squealed and hid behind Mal. Jay's face turned pale, even Ben yelped and stepped back a little. Mal nearly fell over Evie.

Julie Skellington leaped off of her seat. "Oh! Hi, humans!" She waved and smiled nervously, despite her shock of seeing humans for the very first time, she still presented herself as friendly as she could.

The humans stared at Julie like she was an alien creature. Well, she was alien to them as they were to Julie. Both were filled with shock and wonder at the same time, a very intriguing combination.

Julie decided to have her first say with them and make an excellent impression. "Uh, my name is Julie Skellington."

"Wait, Skellington?" Ben questioned. "As in, Jack Skellington?"

Julie nodded. "Yeah, he's my dad."

"So Jack Skellington is real! I knew it!" Ben said.

But Julie was just confused. "And you are...?"

"Oh! Yes." Ben cleared his throat and collected himself. "My name is Ben. This is Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos."

Julie's skull lit up seeing these humans. These could be the friends she's always wanted! But she noticed the one human boy still being held in the tan boy's arms and her smile dipped.

"Okay, Carlos, this is getting embarrassing." Jay said, putting Carlos down.

"I'm sorry I scared you so badly." Julie said honestly. "Sorry about your hair."

"My hair?!" Carlos said, offended.

But Julie looked guilty. "I know, I scared you so badly it turned white."

Carlos cocked his head back. His friends were equally perplexed.

"No...I dyed my hair this way." Carlos cleared up for her.

Julie arched an eye socket. "Dyed...it?"

"Don't you know about hair dye?" asked a stunned Evie.

"Nu-uh." Julie shook her head. "Does it mean your hair died and it turned white? Does that really happen to humans?"

"Nooo," Mal said. "Hair dye is something you put in your hair to make it another color."

"Really? You can do that with your hair?!" Julie said, her expression filled with delight.

Everyone was amazed by how out of touch this young skeleton girl was. Then they noticed how Julie was staring deeply at them, slightly learning towards them, her black, empty sockets wide as two saucers.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Jay asked, thoroughly creeped out.

"I read in a book that it's important to make full eye contact when speaking to humans," Julie answered, still gazing. "which is saying something since I don't have eyes."

"Okay..." Mal said after a brief silence. "So, this is where you live?"

"Why, yes. This is Halloween Town." Julie looked down and noticed Dude. "Is that a dog?" She bent down and petted Dude, she smiled. "Hi, there. little guy." She picked up the cute dog and hugged it.

Carlos was surprised at how well Dude wasn't afraid of Julie, he didn't bark, he didn't growl, he didn't even flinch. In fact, he gave Julie's boney cheek a lick!

"I've never seen a human world dog before!" Julie said in awe.

"Why? Don't they have dogs here?" asked Carlos.

Julie shook her head. "Nope, well, not these kind of dogs. Anyway, I would be honored to give you all a tour of our world!"

Ben smiled. "Sounds great!"

With Dude still in her arms, Julie took the five humans through the graveyard. They walked past the gate of black, twisted metal and into her hometown.

"Welcome to Halloween Town!"

The humans' eyes were wide with fearful amazement. The town was even scarier up close. An uncharacteristic chill ran up Mal's spine.

"Wow, this place is amazing." Ben said.

"Really? I was going to say downright creepy." Jay said.

Julie smiled. "Thank you." She let out a squeak of excitement. "This is so great! Humans in Halloween Town! We're making history!" She leaped with happiness.

"She's pretty lively for a skeleton..." Mal said to Evie.

Evie nodded, but she can't help but feel a connection to Julie. After all, she was secretly excited to start a new life in Auradon, so she admired Julie's excitement.

"So, what do you guys want to do first?" Julie asked. "I was thinking we could go tombstone sledding or maybe check out the mausoleum, it's infested with spiders and cobwebs. So it's a great hangout."

"Uh, perhaps later." said Ben. "But I'm really interested in meeting your father, Julie."

"Oh, good! Dad loves meeting new people! He's at my grandfather's laboratory." Julie lead the way. "Every year, my family and the citizens of Halloween Town band together to create the best Halloween every year! After all, life's no fun without a good scare."

Mal grinned. "My thoughts exactly."

"But the problem is, things get too routine sometimes, so we need new scares and discoveries to make each Halloween better than the last!" Julie explained as they arrived at a huge tower. They walked inside and everyone was impressed at what they saw, but Carlos was completely floored.

"Welcome to the lab of Doctor Finkelstein!"

All around the room were macabre looking, but functional machines. Strange looking specimens were in jars on shelves and tables. Chemicals of various dull colors were placed around as well.

And for the first time since they came to this world, Carlos's fear dissipated. "This is incredible!"

Evie said was equally impressed. Despite being a beauty queen, Evie loved science as well. "Your grandfather made all this?"

"That's right. And you are not allowed in it!" a senile voice snarled, making the humans jump. Julie just sighed.

Rolling in on an electric wheelchair was a short, frail looking man in a lab coat. His head was disproportionately large and his mouth was shaped like a duck's bill.

"Julie Skellington! You better have a good excuse for bringing humans to Halloween Town!" the little man growled.

"I didn't bring them here, grandpa. They came here themselves!" Julie explained. "I was just showing them around."

"Showing them around?!" Dr. Finklestein said. "You're the Pumpkin Princess, not a tour guide! And they shouldn't even be here!" He opened his head and scratched his brain, much to the disturbance and disgust of the humans.

But Julie stood her ground. "I don't care what you say, grandpa. I've finally made some friends whether you like it or not. Besides, shouldn't you be working on your latest experiment right now?" Julie looked over to the table. "Like the one Carlos is examining?"

The doctor swerved his chair around. He saw Carlos tinkering around with one of the doctor's machines. It appeared to be a giant robot with a carved jack-o-lantern face with two arms and two legs. Carlos was peering closely at one of the robot's legs.

"You imbecile! Get away from my experiment!" Dr. Finkelstein hurried his chair to stop Carlos, but he discovered Carlos was making some adjustments to the machine.

"This just needed a tweak here and there." He flipped a switch inside and it was operating well.

"I don't believe it! It's finally working!" the doctor said in amazement and shock. "Thank you, my boy! I've been stuck on that for weeks!"

"Wow! You must be something special." Julie said. "My grandpa doesn't hand out praises to anyone."

Carlos smiled to Julie. "Thanks." It felt good for Carlos to be appreciated, when your mother is the vicious and mad Cruella De Vil, you're rarely shown gratitude or affection.

"So, what is this big contraption anyway?" Jay asked.

The doctor scratched his brain again. "Well, hopefully it will be the centerpiece scare device for this year's Halloween. If I get it done in time..." He went back to tinkering with his robot.

"Indeed." a friendly voice said.

Everyone turned and got the biggest surprise of all. They all took one step back.

"Daddy!" Julie chirped.

It was Jack Skellington himself with his arm hooked around Sally's. The Pumpkin King smiled seeing the shocked humans. "My! So it is true! We've got guests in Halloween Town!"

"Jack Skellington...it is you!" Ben breathed in the skeleton's presence. He bowed most humbly. "You Majesty, I am King Ben of Auradon. My friends and I have come a long way to find you!"

"Really? Find me?" Jack said surprised.

 _'What is Ben up to?'_ Mal thought.

"You see, Mr. Skellington. We're going to have a Halloween celebration at our school, Auradon Prep. Which is why I've decided to invite you and your family as our special guests!"

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ben! Are you crazy?!" Mal blurted out.

Jack and Sally were just as stunned by Ben's sudden proposal. Julie, however, was excited. She beamed and clasped her hands.

"That sounds great!" Julie squealed. She started bouncing up and down. "When do we leave?!"

"Julie!" Sally said. "You can't be serious!

Julie stopped bouncing. "I'm _dead_ serious, Mom! This could be our one chance to get new ideas for Halloween!" Julie said.

"She has a point, dear." Jack said.

"You too?!" Sally said.

"Oh, come on, Sally. Be a sport." Jack said.

"So it's settled then!" Julie said. "I'll be right back!" Julie ran out the door and headed straight to her house.

"Julie! Come back!" Sally ran outside and Jack followed. Ben and everyone else looked at each other, then followed the Skellingtons out the door. When they got outside, They saw black suitcases being hurled out the highest window of Jack's house.

A few suitcases later, Julie came outside with a long, black coffin shaped suitcase.

"Honey! What is all this?!" Sally asked in bafflement.

"Well, we're going to the human world." Julie said. "And this is just some stuff I thought I would need."

Sally groaned and rubbed her temples. "Honey. You don't need to bring all this stuff with you. It's just a visit."

"What about the electric chair?" Julie asked.

"Especially not the electric chair!" Sally said. "And none of us agreed to go to the human world anyway! And what about Halloween, Jack? You and Julie can't just leave!"

"Oh, I'm not leaving, dear." Jack said. "Julie is."

"Really?! You mean it, Dad?!" Julie gasped. But she started to frown. "But I thought you wanted to come."

Jack nodded. "It's true. I do want to come. But I do have a responsibility as the Pumpkin King after all. Halloween is coming! So I propose you go and visit the humans for a while and on Halloween, I'll come over and visit everyone! How's that sound?"

"It sounds great!" Julie said.

Ben smiled. "I agree. That would be best."

But Sally looked unconvinced. "Jack..." She looked at her husband cold and hard.

Jack was prepared for this. He turned to his wife with confidence. "Sally, our daughter is cooked up here in our world and it's making her unhappy! Is that what you really want? Making our daughter sad?"

Sally blinked. She hadn't thought of that.

"Please, Mommy?" Julie pleaded. "I can't stay here forever. I really want to see what's out there. I promise I won't be any trouble. I won't take over any holidays or anyone's job! You have my word!"

Ben stepped forward. "Mrs. Skellington, you have my word as well. I'll take full responsibility for this proposal. I will take your daughter under my wing."

"And we'll be right there with her." Mal said as she stepped forward as well.

"We definitely will." Carlos said.

"She's in good hands." Evie said.

"You can count on us." said Jay.

Sensing the sincere honesty in these human children, how could Sally say no?

"Alright," she said. "you can go."

"YAY!" Julie jumped for joy and bear hugged her mom. "Oh, thank you!" She looked back at her luggage. "Are you sure I can't bring the electric chair?"

"I'm _dead_ sure." Sally said, her eyes narrowed.

"But at least say goodbye to your brothers." Jack reminded, waving his bony finger.

"Okay, Daddy."

* * *

Inside, Julie was giving her human friends a tour of her home before the big trip. "And this is my brothers' room."

They stopped in front of a huge, black oak door. She opened it and five toddling skeleton children came out to give her sister a big hug. Each wearing clothes similar styles to their mother and father. Three of them were white boned skeletons while two of them were light blue and had stitches.

"Bye, Julie!"

"We'll miss you, Julie!"

"Our xylophone band won't be the same without you, Julie!"

Julie hugged her brothers back. "It's just a little trip, guys." she said. "I'll be back before you know it. Jeremy! No poking the humans!" She scolded her brother who was poking Ben's leg.

"Julie! Don't forget about Zero!" Sally called from downstairs.

"Okay, Mom!" Julie called back. She pulled her brothers off her one by one and headed down the hall.

"Your parents sure got busy, huh?" Jay said.

"You bet." Julie said. "And if there's one thing scarier than monsters, it's babysitting five of them. Zero! Zero! Here boy!" Julie called.

A faint little bark was heard down the dark hallway. Then something white and glowing appeared.

Evie gasped and hid behind Mal. "What's that?!"

"It's Zero." Julie said.

A little ghost dog floated before the startled teens. His glowing, jack-o-lantern nose glowed brightly. Julie petted the dog affectionately.

"This is Zero?!" Carlos said, backing from the ghost dog.

"Yep, he's been in the family for years." Julie said. Zero spotted Dude and floated down to the living dog. The two sniffed each other carefully, then exchanged friendly barks and woofs.

"Looks like those two are getting along well." Evie said.

Dude never ceases to amaze Carlos. He was certainly a lot braver than he was.

"Hey! What if Zero came with me?" Julie suggested.

Zero barked in agreement and flipped in mid air.

"Let's get going!" Julie said, pumping her fist in the air.

"You sure are excited about this, aren't you?" Jay said.

"Of course I am," Julie said. "Living in Halloween Town is like a ghost haunting a house. Sure, it's fun every now and then. But after a while, you get tired of it and want to check out some new haunts. You know what I'm saying?"

"I hear ya." Mal said. "Things were pretty rough for us where we came from."

Julie turned to Mal. "Auradon is a pretty rough place, huh?"

Mal shook her head. "No, Ben's from Auradon. The rest of us came from the Isle of the Lost. Basically where all the evil characters were banished to."

"But it was their parents who were evil, not their children." Ben said. "So I invited these four to come live a nice, normal life instead of being raised in the shadows of their parents' evil footsteps."

"And it turns out being good worked out for us after all." Jay said with a shrug. "Who knew?"

Julie smiled. "I agree. But what made your parents so bad anyway?"

"Well, my mom cursed a princess to fall into a deathlike sleep just because she wasn't invited to her big christening." Mal said.

"My mom poisoned a girl because she was more beautiful than she was." Evie admitted sheepishly.

"My dad stole a magic lamp and tried to take over a kingdom and stuff." Jay said so casually.

"My mom was a crazed dingbat who stole ninety nine Dalmatian puppies just to turn their pelts into a coat." Carlos said.

Julie stared with wide eye sockets. "Wow. No wonder they were banished."

"Don't you have any villains around here?" asked Mal.

"Hardly. Our sole purpose is to scare people on Halloween, not hurt them." Julie said. "But...there was one person who wanted to hurt people only."

The humans listened carefully.

"His name was Oogie Boogie. And sure, my dad kidnapped Sandy Claws and brought him here, but all we wanted was to have Sandy take a break from Christmas. But Oogie was going to kill Sandy and my mom when she tried to save Mr. Claws."

"Kill Santa and your mom?!" Evie gasped. "But why?!"

Julie glowered. "Because he wanted to. It's as simple as that." She tightened her boney fists. "Oogie was the real villain. But thanks to my dad, he destroyed Oogie for good and saved everyone."

Everyone was stunned. Who knew there was more to the legend of Jack Skellington that they thought?

"Julie! Julie! It's time to go!" Jack called from downstairs.

"Okay, Dad!"

* * *

After saying goodbye to her siblings, Julie was ready to go. "Off to the land of adventure!"

Ben smiled seeing Julie's excitement. When the children left the Skellington household, the humans' eyes filled with astonishment and dread.

An entire mob of horrific Halloween ghosts and monsters were waiting outside for Julie. These were none other than the citizens of Halloween Town. They gasped seeing the human children.

One of them was a short little man. It was the mayor of Halloween Town. His head turned all the way to reveal a frightened, distressed face. "HUMANS! Humans in Halloween Town!" he said fearfully.

"What are they doing here?!" a werewolf growled.

"They've got Julie!" a witch screeched.

"Jack! Scare them out of here!" said a second witch.

Jack raised his hands up high. "Everyone, calm down!" he told the crowd. "These humans mean us no harm."

"Yeah, we're just visiting them for a while so we'll have some new ideas for Halloween!" Julie said.

And in a split second, the monsters' anger disappeared.

The mayor's face switched to a happy face. "Oh, well that's different then!" he said, chipper now. "Have fun, Julie!"

"Just be safe, Julie!" the small witch said as she waved goodbye.

"They'll be lots of people to scare!" a evil looking clown said with a cackle.

Julie beamed with excitement. "This is going to be the most horrible Halloween ever! Right, guys? Guys?"

Julie saw her friends looking white as the ghosts seeing all these monsters.

"Uh, ready to go when you are..." Carlos said, quite shaky.

* * *

Far off from the crowd, three costumed children smiled mischievously as they were watching the whole thing. They ran off before anyone saw them and hid outside the gate. It was Lock, Shock, and Barrel, Halloween Town's professional trick-or-treaters. But they were mostly feared around Halloween Town as they were Oogie Boogie's henchmen.

And these nasty little children always had something up their sleeves. Even when their leader is not around anymore.

"Julie's leaving town!" Lock, the little devil boy said. "Let's follow her!"

"To the human world?!" Shock exclaimed through her witch mask. "That sounds like fun!"

"But those humans are ugly! And they're no fun!" Barrel groused. He took off his ghoul mask and licked a black and orange swirly pop.

"That's the point!" Lock said. "I say we share our Halloween spirit with the human world and have a good time!"

And the three little monsters hurried to their tree house to grab some supplies, giggling merrily.

As the terrible trio planned their crimes, Julie was ready to go. She gave her Dad a big hug. "Thanks for letting me go, Dad."

Jack smiled. "Anything to make you happy, dear."

Mal and the villain kids watched the two. It was quite clear that Jack adored his daughter and vice versa. Jack was clearly not a villain, unlike their parents.

"Okay, hug-festers. Let's get this party started!" Jay said, clapping his hands.

Julie gave her mother and father a kiss and joined her friends' side. "Ready! Ready, Zero?"

The ghost dog barked wholeheartedly.

Ben turned to his girlfriend. "Mal, if you please."

Mal nodded and closed her eyes. She spread her arms out and cast her teleportation spell. Green smog swirled around them and the group disappeared with a loud bang.


	5. Chapter 5

Julie tried to see what was going on. All she could see was green. Finally, the smoke from Mal's spell faded away and Julie's eye sockets grew immensely wide.

"Wow..." Julie's mouth parted when she found herself in front of Auradon Prep. It was built like a magnificent castle. Julie saw that the trees around her were not dead or gnarled. But they were healthy and had branches full of orange, red and yellow autumn leaves. The sky was bright blue and not grey and dull. And the sun was so bright and yellow and didn't have a jack-o-lantern face.

Ben and the villain kids saw how much Julie was taking all this in. The skeleton girl just stood there, frozen like a statue.

Carlos put his hand on Julie's shoulder. "You okay?" he asked, concerned.

Julie's mouth started to move a little. "This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen." she breathed out, completely entranced.

Mal could sense that this was a life altering moment in Julie's life. But they just arrived at school. So there was still more to take in for the young Skellington. "Well, you better pick up your jaw cause there's still more to see." she said.

"That's right," Ben said. "I'll give to the tour of Auradon Prep."

"You mean we get to go inside?!" Julie said, snapping out of her awestruck state.

"Uh, yeah." Jay said slowly.

"YAY!" Julie joy-jumped. "Let's go!" But she stopped. "Wait, where's Zero?!"

Evie thumbed over her shoulder. "He's over there."

Everyone turned and saw Zero and Dude playing in the fallen piles of leaves, happily barking and chasing each other together.

Julie's smile spread across her skull. It warms her bones to see pets at play.

"Looks like Zero's having a blast." Carlos said with a chuckle. "You have a pretty cool dog."

Julie turned her smiling face to Carlos. "Thanks. Your dog is cool too. You're so lucky to have a pet that is as sweet as you are."

Carlos blinked. "You think I'm sweet?" He was surprised by Julie's sudden kind words.

"Of course, you're a really remarkable boy." Julie and Carlos looked at each other. Possibly in a new light.

"Uh, about that tour?" Ben said.

Carlos and Julie looked away sheepishly and followed Ben into the building. "Are there other humans here?" Julie asked.

Ben nodded. "That's right." They walked inside and the first thing that caught Julie's attention were the splendid Halloween decorations. Then, she spotted Audrey and Chad walking together. Audrey's notebook fell out of her backpack and Julie noticed right away. She ran over and picked it up, then tapped Audrey on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, you dropped your notebook." Julie said politely.

Audrey turned. "Oh, thaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The young princess screamed in sheer terror, she fell backwards and landed hard on her behind.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chad Charming screamed as loud as Audrey. He ran away in fright of Julie and crashed right into a girl carrying Halloween cupcakes. Chad fell to the ground and the cupcakes splattered all over him.

Of course, Fairy Godmother and the other students came out to all the commotion. "What is going on in-" Fairy Godmother choked back her words and lost the color in her cheeks at the sight of Julie. She looked ready to faint any second. Her daughter Jane already fainted.

Most of the students gasped and some even screamed!

Julie just stood there with a perplexed look on her face.

Ben stepped in before this got ugly. "It's okay! Everything's under control, everyone!"

"I-Is that J-J-Jack Skellington?!" Doug said, his knees like jelly.

Ben shook his head. "No, this is his daughter, Julie Skellington."

Julie smiled and waved. "Hi, humans! I love your world! It's so beautiful and colorful and-" Julie gasped when she realized the girl she scared was still on her bottom. "Oh, my! Are you okay?" She stuck her hand out to Audrey.

Audrey coiled back in fear and picked herself up. She went to Chad and helped pick the cupcakes off of him. Chad shot the skeleton girl a dirty look and the prince and princess stormed off.

Julie felt guilt in her bones. Guess she was already making a bad impression. Nothing in the books could help her with this.

Her guilt hit pause when Lonnie walked right up to Julie with no fear at all. "Oh, don't worry about them." the kindly human assured. "So, are you really Jack Skellington's daughter?!" she asked with much enthusiasm.

"Yes, I am." Julie said, her smile returning. "I like your decorations!" She tapped her chin. "But they could use a little pizazz."

"Pizazz, huh?" Lonnie was intrigued. "Maybe you can give us some tips!"

"Uh, perhaps later." Fairy Godmother said as she stepped in between the two girls. "Ms. Skellington. I don't know how you got here, but I don't think you should be here." She tried to sound as nice as she could.

Julie's smile dipped.

"Fairy Godmother. Give Julie a chance." Ben said. "That incident with her father Jack was just a mistake. In fact, I invited him and Julie to our Halloween party."

"You did what?!" Jane said as she woke up from her fainting spell.

"Yeah. You see, my daddy's too busy running Halloween. So he let me come over and see the human world. But he'll be swinging by for your big Halloween bash." Julie explained. "We'll all have a good time!"

The student body was silent. Some whispered among themselves.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Julie asked. "What kind of classes do you have at a human school?"

Fairy Godmother adjusted herself. "Oh! Well, we have Goodness 101, Computer class, Science, Music and all sorts of classes."

"I do like music!" Julie said. "Is there a singing class of some kind?"

"You sing?" Evie asked.

Julie nodded. "Yes, it's just a little hobby."

"Can we hear some?" Lonnie asked.

Julie seemed surprised. "Okay." she said. She cleared her throat and began singing.

 _"Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones,_  
 _An emptiness began to grow._  
 _There's something out there far from my home._  
 _A longing that I've never known."_

Julie's voice was so melodic and haunting. She stopped singing and looked at the crowd. They all had the same entranced look she had when Julie first saw Auradon. Every single jaw dropped in that school. They could feel the gloom and woe in her voice.

 _"Oh, there's an empty place in my bones._  
 _That calls out for something unknown._  
 _The fame and praise come year after year._  
 _Does nothing for these empty tears."_

It was silent as a graveyard. Then the students began clapping!

"That was...wonderful!" Fairy Godmother said, smiling brightly.

"Nice pipes, girl!" Carlos said.

Julie bony face blushed. "Thank you." She could get used to this human world Auradon after all.

"So, how about we show you around?" Lonnie said, taking Julie's arm.

"I'd love to." said Julie.

Ben wore a proud smile. It seemed Julie was fitting in already. But then he noticed something strange. The vase of flowers that Julie was standing behind were wilted and dead. Did her singing cause that?

In the bathroom, Chad was washing off leftover icing from his face. "Ben has gone officially nuts. First the villains kids and now this!"

"She's going to turn this whole school into a living nightmare!" Audrey said.

Julie was following Ben, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos as well as Fairy Godmother who was giving a tour of the campus grounds. "So, you can turn pumpkins into vehicles?!" Julie asked Fairy Godmother. "That's amazing!"

"Why, yes. But there's no need for that here." the headmistress said modestly. "We have plenty of transportation here in Auradon."

"Wow, talk about lucky. The only vehicle in town we have is the mayor's hearse. Oh! And that snowmobile from Christmas Town Daddy took." Julie did a thoughtful hum. "I wonder if that thing's still running?"

"So, what kind of things do you do in Halloween Town?" asked Fairy Godmother.

Julie shrugged. "Not a whole lot. Usually I'm helping Dad plan Halloween most of the time. We always start planning every November first."

Mal cocked her head back. "Seriously? You start planning the day right after Halloween?!"

"Of course! We only have another three hundred and sixty five days until next Halloween. We can't waste a whole lot of time!"

"Three hundred and sixty four actually." Carlos corrected.

"See what I mean?" Julie said.

Mal rolled her eyes.

Then Julie spotted Chad and Audrey. Chad was hitting a strange looking machine. Julie immediately ran over to them. "What's this?" She pointed to the machine.

"It's a vending machine." Chad said with a scowl. "It took my money and now it won't give me a soda!"

Julie hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe I can fix it."

Audrey appeared doubtful. "Oh, really?"

Julie simply smiled. "Yep, stand back."

The two stood back and Julie went up to the machine. She gave it a hard glare, then opened her mouth, revealing her horrid, sharp teeth and let out a terrifying shriek.

The machine shook violently and it broke down before spitting out a soda. Smiling, Julie took the soda and handed it to Chad. "Here you go."

Chad and Audrey just stared at her.

"Uh, you can keep it." Chad said before he and Audrey took off.

"Hurry, Chad! Hurry!" Audrey said.

Mal and her friends saw Julie looking sad. She was just trying to help.

"Hey, don't listen to them." Mal told Julie.

But Julie was still depressed. "I don't know...I guess I'm too scary to make friends. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Fairy Godmother asked.

"Unless you can use your magic to make me human!" Julie told Fairy Godmother.

"You want to be human?!" Ben said. "But we like you just the way you are."

Julie frowned. "But not everyone. It's no wonder the humans tried to kill my Dad. Because we're too scary to make humans happy. I wish I was normal like everyone else here."

"Normal like everyone else?!" Carlos stomped his foot, turning the floor to ice. "Don't say ever that! Chad and Audrey and those other humans just don't understand! All your Dad wanted was to spread Christmas cheer, but it just didn't work out like he wanted it to. And you just wanted to help Chad, but he was too scared to accept your help. And that makes him the biggest jerk of them all."

"Mal's right." said Carlos. "Some people just don't understand how special you are. And the same goes for your father. He's a really talented person being the king of Halloween and all. And he raised such an amazing daughter."

"And you have a better family than we ever had, that's for sure." Mal said. "And meeting someone as cool as you makes us happy."

Julie felt her bones turn warm. Hearing such kind words from humans made her bony face gain it's grin again. "Yeah, you guys are right. And even though my Dad's Christmas and my help didn't work out the way we wanted to, it came from the bottom of our black hearts! And that's exactly what we do every year! Put all our talents and effort into the one holiday that we rule; Halloween!"

And Ben had a wonderful idea. "In fact, how would you like to help our school prepare for your holiday? You are the princess of Halloween after all."

Julie gasped with joy. "Really?! You mean it?!"

"That's a wonderful idea, Ben!" said Fairy Godmother, beaming brightly. "I'm sure your father would be very proud, Julie!"

"You're right! He will be proud of me!" Now Julie was more excited than ever. "Then let's get things started! Zero!" She whistled for Zero and the faithful ghost dog came to her side in an instant.

And get started they did. Without a second to spare, Julie and her friends banded together to make Auradon's Halloween party a huge success. With Julie's guidance, she whipped the student body into spooky shape.

Julie helped practically everyone in school for the Halloween festival. She and Evie put together festive and colorful costumes for everyone and Zero helped put up new decorations. Everything was coming together so perfectly smooth.

This, without a doubt will be the best Halloween Julie has ever had.

Or will it?


	6. Chapter 6

The sun was setting and the Halloween festivities were about to begin. Ben and the villain kids waited outside for Julie. Thanks to Evie and Carlos, they had designed the perfect costume for Julie.

Julie strode out and showed off her costume, which was an homage to her father. It was a pinstripe striped jacket top with a gorgeous black shirt with a spider web patch. She wore her hair in a high ponytail.

"You are looking frightful, girl!" Carlos said.

Julie help up a finger. "Not quite. Just needs the finishing touch." She took out a bat shaped choker that was just like her father's bow tie. She tied it to her neck and now it was perfect.

"And you wanted to be human." Mal said with a little half smile.

Julie grinned. "I didn't know what I was thinking."

Carlos, Evie and Julie walked out to the fair grounds and it was very proud moment for Julie. Seeing the humans admiring her scary cool decorations and playing safe carnival games and she and Ben created, it was too good to be true.

Everyone was out and about this splendid Halloween night. The autumn breeze smelled of freshly carved jack-o-lanterns and crisp fall leaves.

"Now this is the kind of Halloween we've been waiting for." Evie said.

"You really outdid yourself, Julie." said Carlos.

And before you know it, the other kids were giving their congrats to Julie as she and her friends enjoyed the fair.

"Awesome Halloween fair, Julie!"

"Happy Halloween, Julie!"

"This is the best fair ever!"

Julie practically floated off the ground. Thanks to her hard work, Julie was making more friends by the minute. Some of them even took pictures with her!

"So, when's your dad coming here?" asked Jay.

Julie shrugged. "I'm not sure. He likes to make a grand entrance."

 **BOOM!**

A sudden vibration made the ground shake, everyone lost their balance.

Carlos grabbed onto Jay. "Is your dad doing this?!" Carlos said.

 **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

The heaving booming were like...footsteps. Really big footsteps.

Off in the distance, Julie could see a humongous, pumpkin shape coming their way. She recognized it right away.

"It's Grandpa's robot!"

Ben, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos saw that it was indeed Dr. Finklestein's robot. It's mechanical arm stretched out and fired out a glowing orange ball of light. It hit the pile of jack-o-lanterns.

Then the pumpkins' faces began to move! They grew arms and legs and began to run about and terrorize the students!

"What is going on?!" Julie blubbered. She ran over to the robot.

"Julie! Wait!" Carlos chased after Julie and the others followed them.

Without a hint of fear, Julie went up to the robot. "Alright! Who's in there and ruining my holiday?!"

The robot's pumpkin mouth opened to reveal three giggling pint sized terrors.

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel?!" Julie exclaimed. She tossed a nasty glare at the three monsters. "I should have known. You three took Grandpa's robot for a joyride!"

"Hi, Julie." Lock said.

"How's your Halloween, Julie?" Shock said.

"Are you having fun, Julie?" Barrel said.

But Ben and the others were confused. "Uh, who are those three again?" Ben asked.

"They're Oogie Boogie's henchmen. Well, _former_ henchmen." Julie corrected.

"Yeah! No thanks to you!" Lock snapped, pointing at Julie with his toilet plunger.

"Your dumb dad squashed him like a bug!" said Shock. "Now it's payback time!"

"And this time, we're calling the shots here! We're our own boss now!" Barrel said.

Julie stomped forward. "It's not too late to give yourselves up. I suggest you hop out of that robot before this gets nasty..." the Pumpkin Princess warned.

"What? And spoil all this fun?" Lock said.

"WE DON'T THINK SO!" the three children shouted and closed the pumpkin bot's mouth. It moved forward and heaved it's giant fist.

"RUN!" Julie and the others ran away before the robot could smash them. They looked back and saw the robot coming for the humans! And Chad and Audrey were about to be squashed by the robotic squash!

"We can't just let them do this!" Evie said.

"Of course not!" Julie said. "We're going to stop them and I know just how to do it."

Julie took a few steps back and closed her eye holes. Then her body suddenly became encased in flames! Everyone gasped and back away.

When the flames died down, Julie wasn't wearing her costume anymore. She was wearing a scarecrow costume with a raggedy maroon shirt, burlap skirt, legs covered in straw, and had an evil grinning, glowing pumpkin face. She still had her red hair tied with her black ribbon.

"Julie?" Carlos said in a shaky breath. "What is this?!"

Julie turned to the robot's direction. "My pumpkin fire." she answered, her voice now with a demonic tone. "I'll be right back." Julie charged at the robot, her speed highly increased.

Audrey and Chad ran for their lives until Audrey broke the heel of her shoes and stumbled, making Chad trip over her. The teens screamed as the Pumpkin Bot was marching towards them menacingly.

But Julie skillfully jumped in front of the robot and released a huge wall of fire around the robot.

Inside, Lock, Shock and Barrel could feel the heat growing within the machine.

"It's getting too hot!" Shock shrieked.

"Do something!" Barrel said.

"Shut up!" Lock snapped at his cohorts. He grabbed for one of the controls, but it was so hot it burned his hand! Lock screamed in pain and hit the eject button. The three were shot out of the robot and landed harshly on the hard ground. They looked up and saw the robot become a molten pile of melted metal.

The kids turned and there was Julie still in her scarecrow form. "Give up yet?"

The little trick-or-treaters huddled together with fright. It was like facing Jack all over again. But then they saw the living pumpkins coming towards Julie.

"Ha! Let's see you beat all of our evil pumpkins!" Lock said with a snicker. Shock and Barrel snickered like the nasty children they are.

But Julie remained unfazed, with a wave of her hand, all of the haunted pumpkins stopped in their tracks and bowed before their princess.

"There's more than one way to handle pumpkins, little ones." Julie said, her pumpkin face glowing. "Let me show you!" A fireball lit up in her hand!

"RUN!" Lock, Shock, and Barrel screamed and ran away. But they all came to a halt when they saw Jack Skellington. They gasped seeing the look of fury on his face, shivers went down their spines.

Julie morphed back to her skeleton form. "Daddy!"

Jack's angry eye sockets locked the children in place. He snapped his fingers and the pumpkins jumped out and grabbed them in an instant. His face broke into a happy smile and hugged his daughter. "Good to see you, Sweetie skull. See, Sally? I told you Julie can handle those brats."

With another snap of Jack's fingers, the jack-o-lanterns burrowed themselves under the ground, taking Lock, Shock and Barrel with them, returning them to Halloween Town.

Sally sighed and nodded while Dr. Finklestein rubbed his sore head. "Well, those little imbeciles deserve to be whacked on the head as much as I was! To think, knocking out an old man like me and stealing my experimental Halloween machine?! What is it with children getting their kicks from pointless destruction?!"

"Anyway, good job on rounding up these kids, Julie." Jack said. "And it looks like you put together a splendid Halloween party!"

"Well, I couldn't have done it without my friends, Dad." Julie said.

Jack noticed the crowd of humans gawking at him. But he wasn't afraid, he actually smiled and waved. "I didn't know we had such a captive audience."

There were murmurs among the humans, until Fairy Godmother went right up to the Pumpkin King and did a small curtsy. "Mr. Skellington. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

Jack smiled and bowed. "The honor is mine."

Happy to see her father, Julie threw her arms around him. Jack hugged his daughter deeply and spun her with joy.

Ben smiled and was the first to applaud. He clapped his hands together. Mal joined in as well. Jay, Carlos and Evie followed.

Soon enough, every human at the carnival broke out in cheers and applause in gratitude for Julie saving the fair and the school. Especially Chad and Audrey.

Jack patted his daughter's shoulder. He couldn't be more proud of Julie.

"Let's get this party started!" Julie cheered.

"YEAAAAAAH!" everyone cheered back.

And so, the Halloween carnival was back on track. Everyone was having fun. And this time, the humans and the entire Skellington family were having fun together. Julie's brothers were having a blast playing games and eating sweet treats.

"This has been the best Halloween ever!" Julie said.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Jack said. "I did my scaring rounds and finished just in time to join the fun. You definitely proved you can take over my throne."

"Thanks, Daddy. But I still have a lot to learn before I become Pumpkin Queen. And I've got the best friends in the world to teach me." Julie opened her arms and Ben, Mal, Evie, and Jay joined in for a group hug.

After the hug, Carlos asked the Pumpkin King a serious question. "So, Jack. Can Julie visit here sometimes?"

"Of course." Jack gave the boy a little smile. He walked over to Sally and the parents saw Julie and Carlos dancing and twirling together.

"Humans certainly have changed." Jack said.

Sally smiled as she held her husband's hands. "They have indeed."

And Jack and Sally leaned in close and share a most splendid kiss.

It was truly the happiest Halloween for both worlds.


End file.
